Page 93 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

Jesus understood the Old Testament Christologically: in its essential principles, and even
in its details, it foreshadows the Messiah whom it promises. The whole theological
system of the Old Testament points forward to his work, and in his coming the whole Old
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Testament economy finds its perfection and fulfillment.

Jesus also took a typological approach in his interpretation of his Scripture. Typological

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exegesis attempts to locate in the Scripture “a foreshadowing of some later event or person.”

Jesus drew types of himself and his work from persons, institutions, and the experiences of Israel

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recorded in the Old Testament. He pointed out “typological correspondences” in the

experience of Jonah (Matt. 24:37) both for his own death and resurrection, and the parallel state

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of society in the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37) to the days of the “coming of the Son of Man.”
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The typology Jesus used, therefore, is “thoroughly Christological in its focus.”

Thus concluding from the study above, it is obvious that Jesus expounded the Old Testament for

the content of his preaching. The ways he interpreted the Scripture were in some sense identical

with his contemporaries; yet, there was fundamental difference between Jesus and his fellow

Jewish exegetes. Jesus had the conviction that he himself and his mission were the fulfillment of

the Scripture. Thus, unlike his contemporaries he interpreted the Old Testament Christologically,

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R.T. France, Jesus and The Old Testament: His Application of Old Testament Passages
to Himself and His Mission (London: The Tyndale Press, 1971), 78.

90
James L. Bailey and Lyle D. Vander Broek, Literary Forms in the New Testament: A
Handbook (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992), 159. For a complete research
on this subject, see Richard M. Davidson, Typology in Scripture: A Study of Hermemeutical
TYPOS Structures, Andrews University Seminary Doctoral Dissertation Series, vol. 2 (Berrien
Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1981).

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France, Jesus and The Old Testament, 75. He provides a through survey of types in the
Synoptic Gospel.

92 Dockery, Biblical Interpretation, 33.

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Ellis, “The New Testament’s Use,” 85.